Aston Villa are tonight involved in some hard bargaining with Liverpool after lodging a late £5m bid to take Rickie Lambert.

Both Liverpool and Lambert had been reluctant when Villa made initial inquiries about the player – though the deal does potentially suit all parties. Villa are desperate for a goalscorer having failed to find the net in their last six Premier League matches and a £5m sale would mean the Anfield club recouping the£4.5m fee they laid out to Southampton for the striker.

Lambert has only ten starts this season in all competitions for Liverpool.

Villa will need to persuade Lambert – a boyhood Liverpool fan for whom the Liverpool move was huge - that making the move is good for him, with his family thought to be a prime consideration. He is thought to be weighing up the possible transfer, knowing that it would offer him the first team football he has been missing since leaving Southampton.

Talks are ongoing between the clubs and though there was a pessimism from the Midlands about the deal being secured as afternoon gave way to evening, it remains a possibility as negotiations continue. Rodgers said today at a press conference today that he did not expect to sign a player for this window, though did not touch on the question of sales.

“I believe in the squad and will change where I feel necessary,” he said. “Last year we never did any business either so unless there’s something you believe can really add to the squad, I don’t want to stockpile them.”